Court asks govt to solve SoBo traffic woes

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday suggested various measures including underground parking in South Mumbai’s business hub of Crawford Market area for easing traffic congestion.

A division bench of justices Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni also suggested daytime patrolling to prevent illegal parking while hearing a public interest petition by Mr Rakesh Shukla, a city resident, regarding the traffic problem.

Meanwhile, the state government claimed that its efforts at alleviating the traffic woes suffered because of ‘non-cooperation’ on the part of the civic body, Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika (BMC).

Government pleader Poornima Kantharia informed the court of the various measures the police were taking to ease the traffic.

She also said that apart from disallowing parking around Crawford Market and the lanes of Kalbadevi and Bhuleshwar, they had also tried to work with the business houses in these areas. This, she said, was in compliance with earlier court directives.

She said much of the traffic police’s efforts were nullified by the laxity on the part of the BMC because of its failure to evict encroachments as well as curbing illegal hawking.

The court sought suggestions from the traffic police for a sustainable solution. The bench also directed the joint commissioner of police, traffic department, to bring together experts and other stakeholders for finding a lasting remedy.

The court suggested the involvement of private agencies to monitor traffic and parking in the lanes. The court posted the petition for June 11.